Lily Allen says winning the 2018 Hyundai Mercury Prize would help change her "caricature image".
The 33-year-old singer recently unleashed her saucy secrets in her tell-all memoir ‘My Thoughts Exactly’ – which details her alleged romp on a plane with ex-Oasis star Liam Gallagher, kissing Zoe Kravitz and almost getting it on with Orlando Bloom – but she says winning the prestigious accolade would allow people to see her for the artist she truly is and take her music more seriously.
In an interview with Sky News, she said: "There is a caricature version of myself which is portrayed in the mainstream press, and the artist part of me gets lost a lot of the time.
"Already being nominated has helped with that immensely, but to win would just be amazing."
The ‘Smile’ hitmaker also admitted she felt like "a massive failure" following the release of her third studio LP ‘Sheezus’.
She said: "When things started not to go to plan with my third album, I felt like a massive failure – not just for myself, but that I’d let everybody else around me down. That was a real struggle."
Lily is nominated for her fourth LP ‘No Shame’ – which was made whilst she was going through her split from ex-husband Sam Cooper, with whom she has six-year-old Ethel and five-year-old Marnie – and her aim was to set the record straight and find out what she wants out of her career.
She explained: "This album has been about figuring out what my intentions are with this work.
"It wasn’t really to get on the radio or brand endorsements.
"It was about explaining how I felt and putting that to music and I feel like I’ve achieved that."
Lily’s record is up against the likes of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’ ‘Who Built The Moon?’, Florence + The Machine’s ‘High as Hope’ and Arctic Monkeys’ ‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’.
If Lily wins the £25,000 prize money at the ceremony at London’s Hammersmith Eventim Apollo tonight (20.09.18), she previously said she would like to put it in her "post-Brexit marketing" bank account.
She said: "I’d put it into my post-Brexit marketing account. Probably to pay for Visa applications come April next year."
Lily Allen: Mercury Prize win would be good for my image
